The show goes on for NZ Idol finalists

By REBECCA BARRY

The show is not over for the NZ Idol finalists - seven of them at least.

The singing septet selected from the final 10 by judge Paul Ellis - and including winner Ben Lummis - will embark on a three-week national tour next month.

Runner-up Michael Murphy, Camillia Temple, Luke Whaanga, Dave Houma, Eddie Gaiger and Sela Mahe will join Lummis in concerts stretching from Whangarei to Invercargill.

Absent from the line-up are finalists Filipo Saipani, Robin Johnson and Jessie Cassin.

Ellis, who will act as tour manager, said he had always planned to take five or six finalists round the country.

"To take 10 people out on the road was always going to be a big call and when I looked at the top six there was only one woman in there.

"Unfortunately Jessie is going to be involved with [stage show] Evita so I decided to invite Sela," he said.

Mahe was the second finalist voted off the show, whereas Johnson was fourth to go.

Ellis was cagey about his selection criteria, saying only: "These are the people the public really want to see that made an impact on the show."

The Idol finalists will perform a gig per day, including two in Auckland, the first on July 1 at the Bruce Mason Centre and on July 3 at the Aotea Centre. They will then work their way down-country.

Lummis said he was looking forward to meeting fans who had made him NZ Idol a month ago.

"None of us got here by ourselves so we wanted to give back to the community and to New Zealand in the way that we can through singing," he said.

Gaiger, who has returned to his job pumping petrol in the Coromandel, added: "A lot of us have done performing before but I think it's just the energy of it has gone up.

"It's quite mind-blowing."

So is their fame. Lummis, Murphy and Temple are getting used to comments that they look shorter in person. Ellis was supermarket shopping recently when a woman marvelled that he had legs, after seeing him sitting behind a desk on the show for so long.

TV2 will screen a preview concert - filmed four days after the NZ Idol final - at 7.30pm on June 22.

Tickets for the Idolised Tour are $39.50 for students and children and $49.50 for adults, with a family price of $160 for four.